What Happens On The Subway Stays On The Subway
by watram
Summary: A missing scene from 'Lorelai's Graduation Day'. Jess, Rory and a short but intense journey on the subway.


Summary: A missing scene from 'Lorelai's Graduation Day' - Rory and Jess on the subway in New York. Just because it could have brought the tension between them to a whole new level.

A/N: 1) My first time with the present tense. I just felt it would work here, and it was a lot of fun to write!; 2) If something like this happened on the subway in the episode, they probably would have shown us that, but hey, we can dream, right?; 3) (Last but not least) This is for MissGoalie, for reminding me that I wanted to write this, providing info on New York, patiently putting up with my rants about this fic and being generally awesome. Here is to ya!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Gilmore Girls or the subway. Surprised? I knew you would be.

* * *

"Where are you going?"

"Subway."

"I thought we were gonna walk."

"It's fifteen blocks. Come on, I think you'll like it."

"Do they allow hot dogs in the subway?"

"You are _so_ an out-of-towner."

He follows her down the stairs, then nudges her gently to direct her towards a ticket machine. "Come on, let's get you a MetroCard."

Multitasking like a true Gilmore that she is, she takes a bite of her hot dog, trying to hold it in her fractured hand and finger some money in the pocket of her Chilton cardigan with the other, all the while watching him as he hits some buttons on the machine before he gets out a five dollar note out of his pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"You sure do ask very eloquent questions today, Gilmore," he teases. "I'm getting you a card."

"No, you're _paying_ for my card."

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Jess! You already bought me a hot dog!"

"I totalled your car, Rory."

"But it wasn't your fault. And if I have to argue about that one more time, with _you_ of all people, I swear I will go crazy," she declares sternly, her posture instinctively straightening.

He takes another bite of his hot dog but keeps looking directly at her. "Fine," he mumbles with his mouth full, then swallows. "But I'm still paying."

She shakes her head, accepting her defeat and continues eating.

He lets her go through the gate first and once she does, she turns around and grin at him. "So, ironically, the New York Jess Mariano is an utter gentleman?"

He rolls his eyes but smiles a little, too. "Only to the _tons_ of girls who come to visit him from Small Town America."

"Gee, way to make me feel special," she laughs.

They walk, they eat, then they step onto the platform. "Wow."

"What?"

"Where are all these people going? It's noon."

"It's Manhattan," he corrects.

"It's crazy."

"Oh, that's mighty, coming from someone who lives in Stars Hollow," he mocks but she doesn't manage to answer because a train noisily stops at the station with a new wave of people pouring out onto the platform, making their way out.

"Don't get lost, Gilmore."

She fixes her eyes on his back, pushing through the crowd and entering the train. This one is actually not as bad as she expected, there's even a spare sit at the end of the row and he – in the gentlemanly spirit - motions for her to sit down. She does, he stands a few feet away.

Finishing her hot dog, she reads the adverts on the wall of the carriage, then something seems to shift in the air, making her tense and she fidgets with the sleeves of her cardigan.

Two college girls sitting opposite her are blatantly checking him out, exchanging hushed comments and conspiratorial smirks. She tries hard not to wince, half at the unashamed display of attraction, half because of this _thing_ she's feeling. She doesn't dare to call it jealousy, not even in her mind, because she _cannot_ be jealous, not about this boy, not when she's got another one who will be incredibly – and justifiably mad if he ever finds out that she went to New York (after being so relieved that _he_ was gone).

Thoughts of her boyfriend make her uneasy, and so do the girls, so she rises to her feet and takes a few steps towards Jess, standing closer to him than she probably should.

As soon as she does she feels hot and stupid; she wants to move away but her feet seem to be glued to the spot. She almost expects him to make some teasing remark that aims to get her even more flustered, but it doesn't come and she timidly raises her eyes. She doesn't have to look up much to meet his eyes, and admittedly it's a nice change, for her neck in particular.

He's looking back at her, a look of concentration on his face that she had only seen on him when he was writing in one of his (or borrowed, for that matter) books.

She finds herself wanting to kiss it away because this gaze of his seems to swallow her whole and it's unbelievably unnerving. The still rational – proportionally smaller for once – part of her is frightened of this thought, berates her and brings a deep blush to her cheeks.

"Rory..."

And anyway, what are those stupid butterflies in her stomach thinking, dancing like crazy when he only says her name?

"That night we crashed..." he starts a thought but doesn't seem to be able to finish it. She's totally torn about the fact that that he appears just as flustered as she is; she wants to run away and throw herself at him all at once. "I... Sorry," he utters after a pause.

"Don't apologise," she replies weakly. That's the last thing she wants him to do, because that night was a taste _of something else _for Rory Gilmore. It was _exciting_. Half for her own support, half to reassure him, she puts her hand on his arm. "It was..."

"Yeah."

"And I don't... it... you..."

"I know."

She's not entirely sure what she's trying to say, but if he does, that's got to be enough. She's rather amazed that a monosyllabic quasi-conversation can express so much. That they don't regret any of it.

Her head is almost leaning on his shoulder now, since she had to look down to avoid the potentially disastrous consequences of looking into his eyes for a moment more. To her surprise, his fingers are drawing shapes on the Chilton cardigan-clad shoulder, and it's the most affectionate she's ever seen (felt) him be and she loves it, a little too much, in fact.

"Jess," she says, and it's almost a gasp; she simply cannot take this tension any more. "I... We don't even live in the same town anymore," she says, and it's a bit out of the blue, but he doesn't show any sign of surprise, not even his signature eyebrow raise.

"Right," he says instead and withdraws his hands from her; she does the same.

"We can still be friends though, right?" she asks awkwardly, almost disappointedly.

"Sure," he answers, but from the way his jaw sets she can tell it's not such an obvious thing to do. "23rd. This is our stop," he tilts his head as the train slows down.

They get off and as soon as they find themselves on the busy street, the tension disappears and they are back to bantering and enjoying the day, even though they do put extra care into avoiding any physical contact.

She writes off the whole 'problem with catching her breath and light-headedness and ridiculous reading-between-the-lines' thing to the deficiency of oxygen underground.

But she never tells anyone about her little journey on the New York subway, because she doesn't really remember a thing, except for the deep chocolate colour of the eyes of one Jess Mariano.

And she's not about to share that with anyone.


End file.
